The Miami Dolphins got one injured starter back when leading receiver Brandon Marshall participated in Wednesday’s practice, but it appears the team might have to face the Cleveland Browns on Sunday without one of it’s top linebackers.

Channing Crowder, who missed the first four games of this season because of a groin inside, sat out Wednesday’s practice with an undisclosed injury. However, Crowder was wearing a compression sleeve on his left leg.

Tim Dobbins was paired with Karlos Dansby as the Dolphins’ two starting inside linebackers. The Dolphins also added two inside linebacker to the practice squad, signing West Virginia’s Mortty Ivy and re-signing J.D. Folsom, the team’s seventh-round pick in 2009. Micah Johnson was waived from the practice squad to make space for Folsom, who is familiar with the Dolphins’ defensive scheme and is a strong special teams contributor.

Crowder’s status for Sunday’s game likely depends on how much practice he participates in. This season Crowder’s contributed 22 tackles (18 solo) and has deflected one pass in his seven games.

Brandon Marshall practiced for the first time in a week.

As for Marshall, who missed last Sunday’s 33-17 win over Oakland because of a right hamstring injury he suffered in the Nov. 18 loss to Chicago, the team’s alpha receiver ran without a noticeable limp during the portion of practice open to the media.

Marshall, whose 58 receptions for 693 yards leads the team, has been plagued by hamstring injuries his entire NFL career. He sat out all of last week’s practice while receiving around the clock treatment.

Without Marshall the Dolphins passing game accounted for 307 yards and two touchdowns through the air, but that was against an injury-depleted Oakland secondary.

Comments (78 Comments)

I imagine Marshall is more than ready to play with a game plan similar to last weeks after being stuchk at home to heal. I bet he was screaming at his TV last Sunday! [Thinking to himself] “Why the hell can’t they call those kind of plays while I am there? Just throw me the damn ball!] Hopefully he and Henne can start to connect a lot more – and for some TDs!
Typical Crowder, though. Can’t seems to make it through half a season, let alone a full one….

Bravo! Everyone has excuses for the other team, even our own beat writers. Injured all pro LG, mishmash O-line, injured Marshall, Injured Dansby, etc. There has to be some reason we arent 1-15 again. It must be the other team was injured!

I agree Tim – what about all of our injuries and our mix-matched Oline, etc? Omar and Mike (and of course the trolls) always bring up the fact that the other team is depleted due to injuries – I don’t get it. It is football – Shiite happens, injuries happen! To ALL teams. Not just the ones that Miami beats….

Do you think that Marshall may have also been secretly suspensed for last weeks game vs Oakland? He had been called for taunting when he flipped the ball to Jay Cutler during the Bears game & threw the ball into the stands the week before. Both plays were unnecessary and cost the team valuable yards. Maybe the reason he didn’t travel with the team this week?

I think Marshall definitely hurt himself. You could tell it was a hammy as soon as he hit the ground…
Now, whether or not he milks it will be determined on this weeks game plan. Get it right, Henning! Imagine Marshall, Wallace, Moore, Heartline and Bess doing a 5 wide set! C’mon, man!!!

NMD..get it right? How bout get it rested! I find it really hard to believe how after seeing how much pain Marshall was in, that he is ready to bounce back at anything close to 75% right now…and wtf how does Merling make it back??? I think Merling is a hair away from fully tearing his achilles and being out all of next season as well.

He doesn’t have bad knees.He had 1 knee MCL injured twice in 7 month period that doesn’t require surgery just rest. Folsom was brought back because of his ST abilities he sucked in the pre-season against 3rd stringers. This is a GM move to help ST. Micah passed through waivers once and they are hoping he passes again. Nothing special, well he was the top 2 tacklers in Pre-season and they had him going against 1st stringers whereas Folsom never got to play against nothing but 3rd stringers. Micah is the real deal.

It could be they want to shut Micah down for the year since he hasn’t had any rest since his senior year and he is a known gym rat. His college team put restrictions on his weight lifting obsessions.

Lifeboat – I agree “get it rested”, but looks as if Marshall is playing, so in that case, Henning, get it right. I also agree with the Merling deal. Rushing these guys back for what reason? Kind of feel the same about Long, and if Henne was any more experienced and established, I would say sit him too. Guess the team isn’t in the right place yet to “rest”. Every week they are fighting for their lives. We have played like 4 playoff games already, and it is only mid-season…

Merling is still limping around and he will be for awhile . He’s still a couple of weeks away from playing according to the papers. miami is going into game # 12 , why in the heck would you chance merling tearing the thing again for a couple of games in which he probably will see limited action anyway ? odds of tearing an achilles so soon are a lttle less than 50/50.

Marshall faked the injury. I saw him at Bokampers last night.He was tying his sneakers and running all over the place. He doesn’t like Henne. I over heard him talking to Orande Gadsden in the bath room.He’s waiting for any other QB play.. He really luvs Sparano BTW.

If you wanted to start a rumor you shouldnt have started by saying he faked his injury. now we know your just talking garbage, it was pretty clear he was hurting when made that spin move. figure it out!!!!!!

I don’t know why everyone always hates on Crowder. I know that he gets hurt a lot, but you can’t blame him for that. He has a ton of respect from his team mates and is one of the more solid tacklers on the team. The guy has been playing hurt all year and is still one of the few who even makes a solo tackle. I know he is not stellar, but he is good, and a great leader on the field. Look how much better the D got after he came back.

I like Crowder, and don’t really care if others don’t. Crowder’s contributions aren’t noted by stats, he’s the kind of player that’s steady, does his job and doesn’t gamble to make great plays, while risking giving up the big play. Terrell Buckley comes to mind as a player who gambled too often.

This is an amazing thing this year with all the roster changes. Every week two or three of the 53 get released and 2 or 3 new names appear. I want to think our team keeps getting better, or at least just not getting worse. I think the injuries this year are up a lot so that is a justification.
Re: Folsom…if he is a good special teams player, he is most welcome. We need all the help we can get on st. That opening play in Oakland just about ruined my afternoon. Fortunately, our guys stepped up and showed the faders that we came to play. Field position is so crucial, it can definitely win and lose games for us. Re: all the Crowder comments, the team seems to play better when he is in so let’s hope he is back soon. Go Dolphins, beat Cleveland.

We will see alot of running plays this week, and Crowder helps in that department. I hope he can play. I see Merling is off IR, a good run stopper I think he will help if he plays. We must stop there run if so we win if not we lose.

Hillis is a beast but not unstoppable and we have the D to stop him. If Crowder is out then Dobbins has to step up because he will see alot of playing time.

I agree that our run defense seems to do better with Crowder on the field. I really am uncertain why, going sideline to sideline he is not very fast and he takes some strange angles at times. Save the tripping penalty, Dobbins had a solid game against The Raiders. I am not so disappointed with Starks as some seem to be. I believe its when you hear very little from an inside D-line guy that he is doing his job.
My player to watch this week is going to be Henne. Not for all the obvious reasons, I just feel that Henne does really well against press coverage, 1 on 1 Defensive backfields. Where Henne seems to struggle is when a Defense throws “Cover 2″ or any other version of an “Umbrella Zone” against him. It is my opinion he gets in trouble during his pre-snap routine. That time frame seems to be where teams have there homework done on Henne and are able to make changes and predict Routs/plays just by the way he brings his team to the line and gets them set. I would hope after Chicago and what was said to Marshall in the Tennessee game, Miami has recognized this issue and worked with Chad to change up his pre-snap routine and give teams something new to look at and have to decipher before the snap. That would be a great thing if Miami shows improvement in this matter this week and the next several games, it would go a long way to solidify Chads job and future here if he can roll with the changes and do what he must to show a different look.

Jetssuck, I saw Folsom making tackles at ILB and he wasn’t just playing against 3rd stringers. Remember Crowder was out and Dobbins also had an injury. Folsom played with the 1s and 2s a little bit as well.

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About the author

OMAR KELLY was unsuccessful at achieving his childhood dream to become a super hero, so he figured he'd do the next best thing and become a journalist who fights against injustice, and searches for truth. After being bored to death reporting news and covering politics, he switched to sports.
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IZZY GOULD joined the Sun Sentinel in Feb. 2012 as a Senior Sports Reporter on the Miami Dolphins beat. He came to South Florida fresh off covering the University of Alabama football program, including its 2011 national championship team. More